The Nation - News from April 26, 1989

A key figure in two federal investigations involving Washington Mayor Marion Barry was convicted in U.S. District Court in the Virgin Islands of drug trafficking. Former Virgin Islands government consultant Charles Lewis, 48, was found guilty of two counts of drug possession and two counts of distribution in the sale of $550 worth of crack, a cocaine derivative, to undercover FBI agents last month. Lewis faces felony charges in Washington in a separate case in which District of Columbia police reportedly were called off an attempted drug buy from Lewis while Barry was visiting his hotel room in the city. A second investigation focuses on a joint district-Virgin Islands personnel project, which Lewis headed until he was fired because of cost overruns.